Iranian asylum seeker raped woman at Salvation Army hostel after giving her BuzzBallz
Shahram Rasouli, 19, was convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl at a Salvation Army hostel in south London. He was said to have bought her BuzzBallz cocktails before the attack
Salvation Army accommodation Denmark Hill, where the attack happened(Image: Google Maps )
A rapist who “just did not care” that a 16-year-old girl did not want to engage in sexual activity with him has been sentenced to seven years in custody.
Shahram Rasouli, a 19-year-old asylum seeker from Iran, perpetrated the assault on the girl in August last year after she and a friend were persuaded to visit his Salvation Army-managed accommodation in Denmark Hill, south London.
Before the attack, he had gone to the shops for alcohol, Inner London Crown Court heard during his trial, and provided the girls with Absolut vodka drinks as well as BuzzBallz cocktails. The victim, who was a virgin, stated Rasouli removed her clothes and subjected her to a “painful” rape despite her clear refusal to have sex.
“I can’t forget what happened,” she told the jury, giving emotional testimony at trial. “My whole life has fallen apart.”
Rasouli, who arrived in the UK in 2023, denied the charge but was found guilty by a jury of rape and was sentenced on Thursday to seven years in a young offender institution.
Judge Silas Reid said: “You decided you were going to have sex with the victim. She didn’t want to and even with the difficulties in language she made it clear to you she didn’t want to.
“You ignored that. Ultimately you committed this offence because you wanted to have sexual intercourse with someone and you just did not care that they wanted nothing to do with you in that way.”
The judge cited sections of the victim’s and her mother’s impact statements, revealing that the teenager “lives in constant fear of being sexually assaulted again” which has made it “extremely difficult for her even to leave the house”.
“She has frequent flashbacks and nightmares,” Judge Reid continued. “Part of that is that on occasions at random points in the day she feels as though she can physically feel hands on her.
“Her mother outlines the impact not just on your victim but on the family as a whole and she said on many nights she has to stay awake supporting her daughter who is unable to sleep due to the panic and distress she suffers, particularly at night.”
The court heard from the victim’s mother that her daughter has withdrawn from life. During the trial, the jury was told that the girl travelled into London on the day of the attack to stay with her friend, whose boyfriend suggested they visit the Salvation Army accommodation to see some of his friends.
The girl remembered struggling to converse with Rasouli due to his “limited” English proficiency, and they went shopping together to buy alcohol.
The girls consumed four or five vodkas each and the BuzzBallz, the jurors were informed. Prosecutor Genevieve Reed told the trial: “She was taken advantage of while drunk. (Rasouli) had sex with her despite her making it clear that she didn’t want to.
“It is significant, say the prosecution, that not only was she a virgin but she wasn’t into boys, she liked girls.”
The prosecutor also stated: “Before she was able to realise what was happening, he penetrated her vagina with his penis without using a condom. This was painful for her, it lasted for around two minutes.”
The court was informed that the girls eventually left the accommodation and the police were alerted the following day. On Thursday, Nathalie Carter, defending, said her client lacks maturity, even for his young age, and has had no education.
“In over 20 years of doing this job I think he is the most unsophisticated defendant I have had,” she told the court. Rasouli’s friend Arwin Khosrawi, 19, was also accused of raping the same girl that day but he was acquitted by the jury at trial.
